Dale Vince seems very much at home eating brown rice and lentils in his local Stroud wholefood cafe. Wearing a patterned Indian cotton shirt, blue jeans and sandals, his conversation covers organic farming, alternative energy and Michael Moore.

Predictable, perhaps, for a Norfolk-born boy who spent 10 years as a new age traveller living in the back of old trucks and buses. But more surprising for a man who is now managing director of a power and distribution utility - especially one who has just picked up an OBE from Buckingham Palace.

Vince is one of the new generation of green entrepreneurs who have moved from fringes to mainstream in doublequick time. His Ecotricity company claims to be the biggest independent wind business, albeit still a minnow compared with the likes of Scottish and Southern Energy or United Utilities.

But Ecotricity punches above its weight because Vince has a seat on the government's renewables advisory board and has been involved in some very high profile energy schemes. He has just won a new contract to build six turbines for the Co-operative Financial Services to power a quarter of its premises and has provided power for Ford's large Dagenham site in east London.

Soft-spoken and vegan he may be, but this new-style utility boss is considered a tough negotiator and is far from a passive participant in a booming, but still cutthroat, sector.

Goodwill

Vince believes the green energy business is in danger of losing the goodwill of customers because of the way some of the large utilities have been acting. "There is a big scam going on here with big and small power companies jumping on the bandwagon. They are often charging customers a premium for renewable energy from plants built years ago," he says.

The difference with Ecotricity is that it promises to use the bulk of the income it gets from new customers to build turbines - and then give them all their energy from that renewable capacity.

Perhaps surprisingly, Ecotricity does not even want to provide new customers with 100% green energy from the start - although it can offer that. Instead it asks people to wait. Cutting CO2 emissions and saving the planet from global warming will only come about if new capacity is built, argues the company.

Ecotricity is spending £7m this year - half its turnover - on new turbines. In 2005, it will double its capacity again but admits if it won a million customers tomorrow it would not be able to cope.

Although Ecotricity likes to be seen as the greenest of green, it still faces some of the same irritating obstacles as those encountered by larger rivals - like planning delays. Vince is pretty angry about that. "You can't be in wind without having problems with planning. On-shore schemes are in the hands of local councillors, who don't read the details of applications, don't understand government policies and cave in to local pressure groups," he argues.

Ecotricity wants the government to hand over control to county councils so that projects are pushed ahead faster.

Once again he blames the big power companies for some of the objections to wind power by choosing inappropriate locations and building on a massive scale. "We only deal in small projects of two to three turbines and ensure the local community are comfortable with the scheme. This is very different from those trying to build huge wind farms in sensitive areas.

" So what does he make of Tony Blair's speech this week when he championed the cause of renewables by warning in the strongest terms about climate change?

"It was a great thing to hear such a positive statement but I worry that he mentioned solar, wave and offshore wind power, none of which are here [producing] now. The one thing he did not talk about was onshore wind, which even the Department of Trade and Industry accepts is the one that will deliver government targets. If he is afraid to speak about it because it might upset folk in the country - rather like fox-hunting - then that's not a good sign."

Vince says he is proud of his growing company. Ecotricity employs just 40 staff but it has developed a growing network of 5,000 customers and supplies electricity to the Body Shop and Sainsbury's. As well as operating seven wind parks and developing an eighth for the new Co-op deal, Ecotricity also builds renewable energy equipment and claims to be Britain's biggest exporter of wind masts.

He is particularly pleased to be trusted by big name clients like Ford. But is there not something ironic about a devotee of renewables helping one of the world's biggest producers of climate-destroying cars bring even more into the world? Not at all, he says. "It's better that we provide power than some traditional source, and, anyway, Bill Ford [the new chairman] is a strong believer in the need to fight global warming. He is doing a lot when it comes to producing a new generation of more planet-friendly vehicles."

However, Vince is not willing to help everyone who comes to see him. "I was asked to work for McDonald's - green them up - but drew the line at that point, given I am a vegan and have got very strong views about food," he says.

The Ecotricity man has clearly mellowed in other ways since he left school at 15 with nine O-levels but no desire to pursue any normal route to jobs and money. "I did not want the career and mortgage I felt were being forced down my throat by the system... I quit towns and houses to live in a series of buses, trucks and benders in Britain and Europe."

Burgeoning

He spent some of this life as a peace campaigner, occupying the Molesworth air base in Cambridgeshire, and at one Glastonbury festival he rigged up a windpower telephone for fellow revellers.

He claims to have gone from one man band to burgeoning electricity supplier on the back of £1,000 worth of savings. His big break was to build his own wind monitoring tower and then find Scottish Power wanted "a shedload". Recently he has funded turbine expansion with the help of Dutch-based ethical bank Triodos.

In 1995, he launched the Renewable Energy Company - since renamed Ecotricity - and by 2000, he had won a Queen's Award for Enterprise. It took endless determination and big battles with planners, grid companies and even the National Trust, he says.

Paul Monaghan, the Co-op executive who agreed the deal with Ecotricity said nobody should underestimate him: "He's not a hippy when it comes to a deal. He's as hard-nosed as any businessman."

Still, Vince appears to be mildy self-conscious about his move from bender to the smart barn where he now lives and is anxious to emphasise he still lives without the "electronic heroin" of television.

The secret of his success, he says, is a commitment to self-reliance, another principle from the early days. "From the start, everything I needed I had to build myself - but it enabled me to live with so little money. Most of us spend an awful lot of time working, in order to pay other people to do things for us. I reversed that trend. I built trucks, lived in scrapyards, got paid in parts, learned how to weld."

He went on to teach himself everything from book-keeping to general business practice. In the early days, he dressed in collar and tie, fearing that he would be excluded from traditional sources of financing and regulatory approval if he was seen as "an old hippy". Now he is more relaxed, or perhaps engaging in clever marketing.

So what did the boss of Ecotricity wear to meet the Queen? "A black collarless shirt and jacket. I thought it might be disrespectful to turn up in my normal gear."

"I messed up anyway. We were told only to speak if spoken to and address her as 'ma'am'. I just blurted out 'hiya, I'm Dale'."

The CV

Born Great Yarmouth, August 29 1961 Education Oriel Grammar, Great Yarmouth Work Claims to have never had a "proper job" unless you count New Age Traveller and Peace Campaigner in that category Set up: Western Wind Power in 1991 Next Generation, 1995 The Renewable Energy Company, 1996 (Changed name to) Ecotricity, 1998 Interests Science fiction, motorbikes and nutrition Family New fiancee Kate. Two sons (21 and 16) from previous relationship